Lawrence Owens

Lawrence is an archaeologist and physical anthropologist, and has spent the last twenty-five years excavating and writing about sites in the Middle East, South America, Europe and Africa. He did his B.A. at Durham, his M.Sc. at Liverpool, and received his Ph.D. at UCL, for his doctoral thesis concerning the ancient populations of the Canary Islands, where he grew up. He currently teaches bioarchaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London, has previously taught at the University of Winchester and the University of la Villareal (Lima), and is a research associate of the University of South Africa.

Lawrence’s research interest is human bones and mummies, and he has written several books and papers on the subject. He is also involved with the art world, and acts as a consultant for clients seeking to build collections of tribal (especially African) arts, which he dealt with extensively during several years working in a Mayfair art gallery. He has been working as a tour guide since 2011, and he leads various tours around East/Central London and Westminster, as well as more specific interest tours such as Bloomsbury, the South Bank, palaeontology (Natural History Museum) and ancient civilisations (British Museum), as well as art history at the Tates, the National Gallery, the Quai Branly, the Pompidou, the Orsay, the Prado and the Reina Sofia, among others. He is primarily known for his children’s tours, that disguise a great deal of knowledge as revolting observation.

While possessing a wide range of general knowledge concerning western art history, he has a particularly strong background in ancient arts of Africa (including Egypt), the Middle East and the Americas. In terms of recent art, he is a particular devotee of early 20th century Paris artists, with a particular admiration for the works of Amedeo Modigliani.